As Christchurch works through day five, post earthquake, demolition of some of our most precious heritage sites is underway. Along with these heritage sites is the purposeful demolition of buildings of less historical importance, but ones that acted as landmarks within the inner suburbs.

Broken mortar, bricks, aluminum, glass, plastic piping, drains, concrete and the silt resulting from liquefaction – the next step will be figuring where all this useless material will be disposed. Certainly in times of emergency, recycling or careful disposal of building waste becomes irrelevant, as the priority remains clearing the streets of dangerous debris for the inhabitants of the city.

Is there room for future deliberation of how we dispose / recycle demolition waste when there is an emergency situation such as the events of 4th September 2010?

There has been 17,000 claims made to EQC of house damage* and with the estimated cost climbing over $1 billion, the focus will no doubt turn to restoring or rebuilding as quickly and cheaply as possible. There will be an impact on Christchurch’s waste stream, but as with most post earthquake processes, the extent and repercussions of  the damage will reveal itself in the months and years to come.

Rubble from Christchurch Earthquake

Use egg cartons in the garden and then compost them.

Another week has flown by. The SIFT week has been full of a couple of new potential applicants, board papers, research, current projects management and some admin thrown in for good measure.

Lots of different things have popped up through our google reader and other newsletters, here’s the best links for you this week:

• Past SIFT project Envirocomp has received $30,000 through the MfE’s Waste Minimisation Fund to carry out a feasibility study on expanding their nappy composting. More  here.
• Photos of dumped e-waste being searched through by Ghanians looking for the valuable metals to sell. Not the best photos – this is quite sad and should not be occuring. More here from The New York Times.
• Waveney from Rubbish Free’s roundup of their weekend at the Nelson Eco Fest here.
• Have you found your WalkScore yet? More here from World Changing. Walk Score is based on Google Maps so it you know there are more services and utilities in your area that would make your Walk Score better update Google Maps with the information.
• Philipe Stark has designed home and urban usable wind turbines. From Greenpages. Now they would be a stylish addition to any home.
• Creative ways to drink tap water from Re-Nest here.
• Molly Eagen is a 25 year living in Minneapolis, USA and is attempting, as part of her thesis, to live 100 days without oil. This is a well researched blog that provides great ideas and new ways to live for all of us. Oil permeates nearly all facets of our 21st century lives so we are looking forward to seeing how she gets on living without it. Could you live 100 days without oil? (Originally via Re-Nest).
• Interactive map that shows the Earth breathing – tracking global CO2 emissions in real time. It takes 14 minutes for New Zealand to clock up 1000 tonnes. It is very well done and you can scroll over each country to see the stats.
• The biodegradable pen from GOOD USA.
• The United Nations Environment Programme has released a new report on sustainability and behaviour change. This is a great tool for all of you in communications, marketing and social change. Developed in conjunction with our favourite Sustainability Communications organisation – Futerra. You can download the report here (originally via Celsias).
• Love this video celebrating the 2010 World Humanitarian Day here.
• This is another great infographic …The National Geographic looks at how much water is embedded in everything we use (note these measurements may be different for NZ). Scroll to the right to see a whole raft of different products from meat, vege, oil, energy, solar. Very interesting.
• This has been one of the blog topics this week so we might as well add it to the list too – Japanese firm Blest is making fuel out of plastic. The video shows how it is all done. We like the way that the machine is portable and could be used for smaller or remote sites.
• Maybe we should just do a graphics blog post! Here is another one from the BBC showing how big different things are against the size of your own country - things like the Pakistan floods, the Pyramids, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, World War II and the Twin Towers.
• Also from the BBC Mexico has completely banned plastic bags and if you use them you go to jail! More here.

That will definitely keep you going for the weekend and we hope it is a waste free one!

P.S You might have noticed that our waste counter is lighter than it was last week. We have updated it to be in line with the waste statistics from the Christchurch City Council for the year to June 2010 which is 179,207 tonnes to Kate Valley Landfill. That’s a 20% drop on last year meaning our waste counter would have been way out. It was updated by the nice people at HairyLemon.

*Image via here.

Source: NY City Department of Parks & Recreation

Source: CETCO Landfill Liners and Caps

Source: NY Mag - Proposed Park Land for Fresh Kills

Just finished the chapter from You Are Here – Exposing the Vital Link Between What We Do and What That Does to Our Planet about Fresh Kills. The largest rubbish dump on land – 2,200 acres with views of the Manhattan skyline. Waste was barged from around New York state to the landfill and at it’s peak it was taking 650 tonnes per day and was 25 metres taller than the Statue of Liberty (source: wiki). It has been closed for nearly a decade but the waste still needs to be processed.  It will be turned into park land over the next thirty years.

2 million tonnes of debris from the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York City were barged to Fresh Kills for sorting and some of this included human remains of which 300 people were identified.

The word “kills” stems from the dutch word “kille” says Thoman M. Kostigen in his book You Are Here. It means “riverbed or water channel” which is much nicer than what I originally thought the name meant.

More here from Wikipedia.

And there is great video here on the history, layers and future of Fresh Kills.

It’s time for us all to wake up and recognise what our actions are doing to our environment, our only home.

Time to recognise that everything is connected and we need to care about our impacts in order to care about ourselves, our families and our communities. Our future.

I am currently reading You Are Here – Exposing the Vital Link Between What We Do and What That Does to Our Planet by Thomas M. Kostigen. I am only half way through and already I am more awake to the links and connections of my actions on other parts of the world, on the lives of other human beings, eco systems and species. And not just the impact that my waste has on the people who handle once it leaves my home and office (the drivers and hand sorters) and truck it to Kate Valley landfill and what the impacts are on the land but my actions on the humans and other species overseas (China, the Amazon for example).

Here is a quote that resonated:

“Of course we should care about other people. Too often we don’t connect our morality with the practicality of everyday things in our lives.”

If we put a face to our actions we would change our behaviour. But, all too often the environmental and social impacts of our actions are not in our face, not even in our backyards – we just don’t see it. Most don’t even know where their waste goes (mostly up the road to Kate Valley Landfill or ‘recyclables’ off shore to other countries to ‘deal with’). And you don’t see the carbon emissions coming out of your tailpipe either.

We as individuals emit carbon emissions through our activities: electricity, eating, drinking, transportation, and what we consume for example. But, a lot of the products that we purchase are not made in New Zealand. Most come from China where there is a coal fired power plant being installed every 4 days and a town called Linfen that is constantly covered in brown, toxic smog that the residents breath in from those coal fired power plants (that also amongst other things emit carbon). Those coal fired power plants produce energy to make the products that are exported to NZ for us to purchase and ultimately waste. Constant production. Constant waste. And where does the carbon and smog emitted from those power plants go?

So, what do we do.

1. Wake up.

2. Ask questions – where does my product come from? Who makes it? How does it get here? What other people, environments or species does the production of that product (and its whole lifecycle) impact on? Where does my waste go? What sustainable business practices doese that company genuinely have?

3. Make changes to our purchasing habits. Start buying more New Zealand made (but still make sure those products are low or positive impact). Support local producers. Support sustianbly product, organic and fair trade. Make your own products. Live more simply – live with less. Grow your own.

4. Research the connections of impacts and talk about it – get others to start making changes too. Educate and stay informed.

5. Help. Donate time or money to good causes that are trying to or are making a difference to key areas of the world  like the Amazon, your local environmental group or national organisation.

With China now exceeding the United States in carbon emissions the only way we can help them to reduce their emissions by 80% (which is what they need to do) is to start demanding sustainably produced products or we stop buying those products – talk to the importers, the retailers here in NZ and start demanding. And start demanding NZ options (and NZ producer responsibility programmes) too – and that will help the NZ economy as well.

It is no longer enough to expect others to make the changes first – it needs to come from us all starting today.

As read in Blessed Unrest social and environmental justice is linked. Your actions have an impact on other people’s lives and the environment and it is taking its toll. It is time to start changing our habits for a healthier future for all on this Earth.

Now. Today. Because it may already be too late for many. We may, instead,  need to start thinking about how to live completely differently for tomorrow.

Baled Alumnium Cans

Some call it lazy blogging we call it extending knowledge – sharing the cool, interesting, inspiring, good things that we come across each week that are related to sustainability, environmentally positive living, waste and anything else we think you might like.

Here are this week’s Friday Favourites:

• tips on keeping glass jars from Down to Earth
• Celsias summarises Environment Minister Nick Smith’s climate challenges speech at the Australia New Zealand Climate Change and Business Conference – here.
• Know your symbols to buy consciously – from Greenpeace.
• CO2 Now’s latest monthly newsletter – the number keeps going up – it needs to start coming down!
• This is a great mockumentary on the life of the plastic bag.
• Great case study on the savings made by New Zealand Post by working with Target Sustainability (originally via WasteMinz).
• Have you bought your compostable toothbrush yet? If not, check out these from rubbishfree.co.nz.
• Great graphic on the amount of renewable energy other countries use (NZ is not there but it is about 70%) from Good (USA).
• Love this behaviour change campaign (from Toyota) for more fuel efficient driving – drive with a glass of water on your dashboard. Might try it this weekend!

Have a great waste free weekend – see you next week.

The recent book of choice which I have just finished is Blessed Unrest by Paul Hawken. Borrowed from the library it is so good I decided to buy a hard copy to keep and luckily found a second hand one on Trade Me. I will be able to read it again and highlight passages that were significant, moving, interesting and enlightening – because there were many.

Blessed Unrest is a book about the growing movement and connectedness of a vast range of thousands of different but like minded people who run organisations with the sole purpose of saving humanity, regeneration and restoration, social justice and environmental justice. After spending days reading about pollution, waste,  climate change (and worrying about how we all need to start making changes today), social injustices and environmental devastation and disrespect it is refreshing to read a book that captures all the good things that are happening in the world.

Paul Hawken likens the movement to the body’s immune system. A quiet but strong immune response to the diseases (we have created) on the Earth.  He starts off by delving into history to see where the movement came from; from Ghandi to Rosa Parks to Ralph Waldo Emerson and Rachel Carson where the movement started it now spans the entire globe with organisations like World Wildlife Fund for Nature, Greenpeace, 350.org, Friends of the Earth and even SIFT. The world is made up of a vast network of social and sustainability focussed organisations  – focus areas include the arts, education, poverty, children, families, women’s rights, animals, gardening, sustainability, climate change, waste, employment and more.  The hope is that the work these organisations carry out (trust, foundations, NGOs, non profits, some corporations, volunteer groups) will prevail over the destructive forces from a small number of large organisations. This book highlights the good in humans and the need for social and environmental change that must come if we are to survive.

It is definitely a book to read and helps to remind you of all of the good work that is being done on the Earth to enable it to be healthy for future generations. There are some excellent passages and it is well researched with a long bibliography and includes a taxonomy on all of the different areas of focus and the number of organisations working in that area. You need to get a full understanding of the vastness, the connectedness of all of these organisations and their good impacts in order to feel positive – don’t just stick to the general media to keep you informed!

You can read more about Blessed Earth here and browse all of the listings of organisations from around the world here at WiserEarth (set up by Paul Hawken). As their website tag line says “Together we act as one” and it is great that SIFT is apart of this network.

There is so much more that could be said but reading it will do it justice more.

This little green sign was sitting under the matagauri underneath the bronze dog statue at Lake Tekapo. Quietly letting locals and touristsknow that the beautiful area of Lake Tekapo is to kept clean and waste free.

Beautful and practical reuse of a Mason jar from Re-Nest

Happy August! Apparently there are only 145 days till Christmas – it’s way too early to be thinking about Christmas (and the waste produced from it) but not too early to be thinking about warmer temperatures of spring and summer.

Here are our favourites links that we have found:

• The Ideal Cup – A New Zealand made reusable coffee cup. Just need to give it reusable lids too.
• Bernard Pras art from junk here.
• The race is on to design the world’s biggest win turbine - here from The Guardian.
• Adapting to climate change in New Zealand – a good summary here of the The Climate Change Centre’s latest report.
• 6 good reasons to use a farmers’ market from Simple Organic.
• Rubbish is clogging the Three Gorges Dam in China story here .
• And more on the excellent reuse of the Mason jar above from Re-Nest.

Enjoy a waste free weekend.

Gina Dempster, Wanaka Wastebusters

As with last week’s Green Collar Job Q&A with Simon from Wanaka Wastebusters we have not actually met Gina Dempster (also from Wanaka Wastebusters) but know that she is doing good green work. Gina looks after the communications for Wanaka Wastebusters, “pretty much anything that needs to be written is my responsibility” she says. That includes advertising, press releases, newsletters, leaflets and the website. “I work two days a week, and love the dynamic, unpredictable and energetic workplace here.”  Before working at Wanaka Wastebusters, Gina was part of the media team for the Green Party in Parliament.

Here are her answers to our Green Collar Job Questions:

1.    What do you do to live more sustainably (with a low impact) in your life?
I try not to throw too much out by recycling, composting, re-using things and fixing them up (although sewing is not my strong point so I have a whole basket of clothes waiting for mending day which never comes). I get satisfaction from finding the perfect second-hand object: old telephone poles to hold our deck up or a pair of nearly new ski pants for my sister. I grow most of our summer veggies and fruit, support local producers and avoid food packaging.

2.    How do you live more sustainably at work?
At Wanaka Wastebusters our work is all about recycling, re-use and challenging people to think about what they really need. Our Green Christmas has been very popular over the last two years, encouraging people to give one-off gifts from our re-use shop. We have just insulated our office which means we get to take off our down jackets in the winter.

3.    What do you think is the biggest environmental issue we need to deal with in Christchurch/New Zealand?
The current mode of thinking that resources are limitless.

4.    What makes you smile?
Watching my four-year-old on his first ever powder run (he crashed all the way down).

5.    What is your biggest pet peeve?
People who think they can’t make a difference, so it’s not worth trying.

6.    What is your favourite colour and why?
Blue – because it’s the colour of the sky and the sea.

7.    Do you have a favourite place in the world? Describe why?
Wanaka . I love seeing the mountains every day, especially against a clear sky at dusk.

8.    What’s your connection to Sift?
Sift and Wanaka Wastebusters are working to minimise waste.

9.    Do you remember your favourite teacher and why they were your favourite?
I think her name was Ms Gore, and she was my teacher in Std 2. I remember we studied medieval history and had a jousting tournament with newspaper swords. I got to be a knight and ride on two of my friends who were the horse – maybe they don’t remember that day so fondly.

10.    What do you want to leave behind?
Happy kids (hopefully grown up by then).  A world that values the earth.

11.    What do you think the future will bring?
Sometimes I think chaos and darkness, but mostly I think communal strength and wiser ways of living.

12.    Who is someone you really admire and why?
Barbara Kingsolver. For writing about things that matter.

13.    What is happening outside your window right now?
It’s nearly dusk and the grey sky shows it’s that time when the temperature plummets. Time to go home and light the fire.

14.    What is your favourite breakfast?
At the moment it’s scrambled eggs and gluten-free toast, or maybe some almonds and fruit.

15.    What is the best piece of advice you can give us?
Once the wave forms, change happens quickly.

Lovely answers – thanks Gina. You can find more about Wanaka Wastebusters and the good work they are doing to reduce waste to landfill here.

Total ChCh Rubbish Sent to Landfill 1 July 2009 to 30 June 2010

Have you seen the new Waste Statistics page on the Christchurch City Council website?

The web page shows the following for the 1 July 2009 to 30 June 2010 year*:

• Organics collected from kerbside green bins – that’s a mix of garden waste and kitchen waste – approx 8kg per person per month (average) or approx 47,000 tonnes. It all goes here.
• Mixed recyclables collected from kerbside yellow bins – an average of approx 4kg paper and cardboard per person per month, approx 0.25kg of metals per person per month, approx 3kg of glass per person per month and approx 500g of plastic per person per month (on average). That’s a total of approx 41,000 tonnes of mixed recyclables collected for the year to June 30 2010. Mixed recyclables get processed here.
• The amount of rubbish collected from the red kerbside bins was approx 8kg per person per month or approx 37,000 tonnes total for the year.
• Both the amount of organics and recyclables are up but so is rubbish (from kerbside) – we are still producing more rubbish that is not recovered.
• But the total amount of total rubbish sent to Kate Valley Landfill (from kerbside wheelie bins, transfer stations and private and commercial waste operators) has dropped again this year to approx 170,000 tonnes down from 220,000 tonnes in 2009. This is great new  but means we will need to update the waste counter on our website!
• Another important point to note from the waste statistics page is that it states that the Council will be carrying out a survey into the specifics of the waste still being disposed of as rubbish at transfer stations or going into the red wheelie bin. This will be important information as the more we now about what people are throwing away the more education can be tailored or new solutions found.

If you live outside of Christchurch in any of the other Canterbury districts contact your local district council for more information on the waste produced and going to landfill from your area or check out their websites: